As the elder of two brothers, Manfred expects to inherit his family’s farmstead in the Black Forest and dreams of settling down with his childhood sweetheart Minna. Instead, the Hullert farm goes to his brother Sebastian, and following a cruel and bitter falling-out between the siblings, Minna takes Sebastian’s side. Crushed, Manfred decides to emigrate, leaving his past behind him. Four decades later, during the magical Raunächte – or Twelve Nights – which give the novella its title, Sebastian returns to the village of his youth to seek reconciliation with Manfred.

As far as “plot” is concerned, there’s not much to Urs Faes’ slim novella beyond the bare bones reproduced above. However, Twelve Nights acquires a resonance well beyond the number of its pages, by tapping into folklore, myth and Biblical imagery. The rivalry between the siblings and the theme of the “stolen birthright” has echoes of the stories of Jacob and Esau, Cain and Abel, the parable of the Prodigal Son. In the inn where Sebastian is staying, the men of the village congregate around the fire, telling tales of “ghosts stirring in the ravine”. Sebastian recalls his mother burning herbs to keep “dark forces” at bay. The evil spirits which roam in the days between Christmas and Epiphany threatening “disorder and peril…abysses gaping open” turn into a metaphor for the pain which humans can inflict on each other. It seems that everywhere Sebastian looks shimmers with a magical sheen imparted by legend:

Outside, through the window, the snow was falling once more, in dense flakes on this early evening; a creeping dusk blurred the contours, turning the trees into wizened forms, the stream to a taffeta-grey ribbon, the farmhouses to shadowy distorting mirrors. The street could no longer be seen in the leaden gloom, which was tinged blue towards the forest, black down the ravine. Childhoodland, filled with scents and stories, legends like that of the forest spirit Holländer Michel, figures looming out of the darkness of the trees, the meadows and marshlands, shallow waters and moon-pale quarry ponds…

This is a deeply atmospheric read: eerie with almost Gothic overtones, and yet warm with hope. Jamie Lee Searle’s translation from the German is poetic and evocative of the natural winter wonderland which serves as a backdrop to this fable-like tale.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/10/Twelve-Nights-by-Urs-Faes.html ( )

As the elder of two brothers, Manfred expects to inherit his family’s farmstead in the Black Forest and dreams of settling down with his childhood sweetheart Minna. Instead, the Hullert farm goes to his brother Sebastian, and following a cruel and bitter falling-out between the siblings, Minna takes Sebastian’s side. Crushed, Manfred decides to emigrate, leaving his past behind him. Four decades later, during the magical Raunächte – or Twelve Nights – which give the novella its title, Sebastian returns to the village of his youth to seek reconciliation with Manfred.

As far as “plot” is concerned, there’s not much to Urs Faes’ slim novella beyond the bare bones reproduced above. However, Twelve Nights acquires a resonance well beyond the number of its pages, by tapping into folklore, myth and Biblical imagery. The rivalry between the siblings and the theme of the “stolen birthright” has echoes of the stories of Jacob and Esau, Cain and Abel, the parable of the Prodigal Son. In the inn where Sebastian is staying, the men of the village congregate around the fire, telling tales of “ghosts stirring in the ravine”. Sebastian recalls his mother burning herbs to keep “dark forces” at bay. The evil spirits which roam in the days between Christmas and Epiphany threatening “disorder and peril…abysses gaping open” turn into a metaphor for the pain which humans can inflict on each other. It seems that everywhere Sebastian looks shimmers with a magical sheen imparted by legend:

Outside, through the window, the snow was falling once more, in dense flakes on this early evening; a creeping dusk blurred the contours, turning the trees into wizened forms, the stream to a taffeta-grey ribbon, the farmhouses to shadowy distorting mirrors. The street could no longer be seen in the leaden gloom, which was tinged blue towards the forest, black down the ravine. Childhoodland, filled with scents and stories, legends like that of the forest spirit Holländer Michel, figures looming out of the darkness of the trees, the meadows and marshlands, shallow waters and moon-pale quarry ponds…

This is a deeply atmospheric read: eerie with almost Gothic overtones, and yet warm with hope. Jamie Lee Searle’s translation from the German is poetic and evocative of the natural winter wonderland which serves as a backdrop to this fable-like tale.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/10/Twelve-Nights-by-Urs-Faes.html ( )

Manfred has returned to the village he grew up in forty years ago. He has been living abroad and not been in contact with anyone since he left after an argument with his family. Manfred lost his home, his inheritance and the woman he loved to his brother Sebastian but now he wants to put things right. As winter closes in on the valley, Manfred muses on the events of long ago.
This is a very short novella or a long short story! However it is also beautiful. The descriptions of the valley in winter are entrancing and the vignettes from youth are captivating. Even though there is no explanation for the reasoning behind the choice that the parents made, Manfred's anger and frustration are weel-depicted and there is pathos in the memories of his lost love. This is a delight. ( )